As we get ready to break for the summer, we want to remind you of all the fantastic things that happened over the last few months.
As hard as it is to believe, we have officially reached the end of the academic year. It’s time for you to relax and enjoy the break that you deserve (or shed a tear or two if you're leaving us). But most importantly, it’s time to look back at all the great achievements that have been possible thanks to your involvement with the Students’ Union.
It’s been a term packed with successful campaigns, awards, improvements, a lot of feedback from you, and even a referendum to change the constitution! So let’s have a look at all the big wins.
Mental Health Training
Over the Easter Break, VP Welfare & Diversity Willow Wong and VP Societies & Media Holly Hughes ran mental health training sessions for permanent staff members at the SU. Willow and Holly are both qualified Mental Health Aiders, and they provided a great opportunity for staff to understand more about different cases of mental health, and how to be able to help any student where needed.
Check this out!
Did someone say “break”?
Let’s be honest, aside from all the fun things that have happened, Summer Term is known for one main thing: exams! During this season, it’s hard to find time to take a break and look after yourself. In order to give you a helping hand and help you switch off for a little while, we ran our Stressbusters campaign, where we hosted plenty of events like swimming sessions, mini massages, Petting Zoo and Pets as Therapy, among many others.
These were aimed at helping you de-stress from all of your hard work - it was a great opportunity to help you keep your focus on the most important thing: your wellbeing.
A Change to our Constitution
Yes, you read right. Back in May, we conducted a referendum that called for a vote for or against the proposed new constitution, as part of our Democracy Review.
After 1004 students voted, the constitution referendum passed with a majority of 862 students voting for the proposed changes. This means that the Students’ Union will be undergoing a big year of change.
The Democracy Review was based on five big ideas that are now going to be put to practice:
- Merge VP Sport and VP Societies & Media
- Creation of Policy Inquiries
- Replace councils with student executives
- Creation of Service Development Groups*
- Introduce funded student collectives
Read more about this
A New Generation of Committee Members
1457 people voted, 13,542 votes were cast, and 494 candidates were successful elected to student group committee positions! Running for elections is a stressful time, but it’s great to see so many students giving their time up to trying to make a difference. We're excited to see the impact our new committee members have on our clubs and societies.
2019/20 Committee Members
Prizes, prizes and more prizes!
For two weeks in May, we ran a survey for Rate Your Union, a yearly project that aims to get as many students as possible provide feedback about their experience with the Students’ Union. In this survey, you were able to tell us what you like about the SU, what you don’t like and what you’d like to see more of. And the best thing about it? If you filled in the survey, you entered a prize draw to win some awesome prizes like a projector, a watch, a Chilly’s Bottle, a camera, £150 cash and many more!
View the results
You’re Valued Awards
After the launch of You’re Valued awards in March, a year round reward scheme that allows you to celebrate the work of all the staff who work within the College, we have received some fantastic nominations from you. We are happy to announce that our first staff members awarded have been Chris Mitchell, Richard Hawley and Catherine Nall! You can check out how we awarded the first ever You're Valued award below.
If you would like to nominate someone amazing too, you can do so here!
Laurels Awards
On Thursday 30 May, the Students’ Union recognised and celebrated the achievements of our fantastic students across campus at the Laurels Awards. The awards exist for any student who has contributed in an outstanding manner to making student life better at Royal Holloway. It was an evening full of proud speeches from the Sabbatical Officers and plenty of well-deserved winners.
Check out all the winners!
Improvements for Student Groups
VP Societies and Media Holly Hughes and VP Sport Dom Brown have been working alongside the Student Opportunities team to better the experience of student groups. And they have plenty of positive changes coming, from improvements in student group funding, to a new Customer Relationship Management system, and updates to how documents are reviewed.
Read all about this
These changes should definitely make life for student groups a lot easier!
Summer Ballin’ Had Me A Blast!
On Friday 7 June, over 3300 students attended the biggest event of the year, Summer Ball. We saw some incredible performances from Mabel, Lady Leshurr, S Club 3 and Danny Howard, while Founder’s Square was also part of the Ball for the first time ever. With a fun fair, banging tunes from Deck 87, countless food stalls, a VK bus and other activities to get involved with, this year was definitely one to remember! We can’t wait to share all of the photos and videos of the night, so make sure you watch this space!
